For a Moment
by TheEmberRaven
Summary: After a rough experience, Raven and Garfield share a sweet moment together. BBxRae.


**For a Moment**

**Summary: **After a rough experience, Raven and Garfield share a sweet moment together. BBxRae.

**Note: This is my first Teen Titans fanfic. Don't worry guys, I'm still gonna do lots of X-men fanfiction, which I know you all love. This is just experimental. R&R.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans…**

oOo

Raven was out of tea, which absolutely a bad thing. She needed more immediately. Every day, she drank tea before her morning meditation and after dinner. It was a ritual, of sorts. She couldn't live without her tea.

It was weird, though. _I thought I had a box of Earl Gray left_, she thought, staring into her empty cupboard. Well, she'd been wrong before.

So, she put together a shopping list—she knew Robin and Cyborg always needed stuff for cooking—and headed out to the store.

Garfield was wandering around when suddenly something caught his eye. Not only was it Raven, it was Raven…carrying a shopping list and humming to herself?

Garfield, curious and amused, approached her. "Dude, where are you going?" he inquired, just for conversation's sake. "And like, why are you smiling?" he added. The tiny smile on Raven's face vanished the moment he pointed it out. She scowled at him.

"I'm shopping. For tea. Leave me alone," she replied in her deadpan voice, glaring at him for good measure.

Garfield wasn't known for taking hints, and he followed her as she walked on. "Can I come?" he asked. "Please, please?"

Raven rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "_Why_ do you want to come with me?" she snapped. "Other than to be annoying, or is that the idea…."

"No! I'll help," Garfield insisted. "Please, I just wanna get out of this stupid tower. Please, Rae?"

"Don't call me that, imbecile."

Garfield groaned inwardly._ Time for the big guns_, he thought as he put on 'the face'. He mewed at Raven, making his eyes as wide and adorable as possible. Raven scowled for a moment, but her face softened a little and her eyes gleamed with…something. She exhaled.

"Fine, whatever," she gave in. "Just, you know, try to keep the annoying level to a minimum."

Garfield jumped up excitedly. "So can we stop by the video game store on the way back?" he wondered.

"Don't push it."

Garfield took that as a 'maybe' and grinned. Raven wasn't so bad. She's eased up a lot in two years, and she was almost close to being tolerable. Sure, her dry comments were still hurtful and unpleasant, but she was even getting better about making those. Everyone had noticed.

The walk to the store was brief, but not quiet. Garfield managed to start a one-sided conversation about cooking, which thankfully wasn't too bad for Raven. It was much better than his usual slew of jokes and banter, and she was thankful for that. She even threw in a few "yeahs" and "sures" into the conversation when she felt like it.

Garfield wasn't her favorite person, but he was nice. He was hopelessly obsessed with trying to be funny and tell a good joke, and he was incredibly annoying at times, but he was really the only person on the team who spent time with her willingly. At least she was glad he was tagging along and not, for example, Starfire. That would have been murder.

The two stepped into a small, hole-in-the-wall Asian store. It smelled strongly of spices, and the air was thick with incense. Raven inhaled and relaxed, as if at home. Garfield wrinkled his sensitive nose.

"What is this place?" he asked curiously, glancing around.

Raven smirked a little to herself. "The best place in the world to buy tea," was her simple reply. "That's what I'm here for. Since you've come along, go get cinnamon and rice for me. I think Robin said he needed those the other day."

He nodded and wandered off to find the spices. Raven sighed in relief when he was gone and made her way to the back of the store, where the back wall was lined with a rainbow spectrum of teas. Her eyes softened at the familiar, comforting sight. She perused the selection, grabbed a few boxes of her teas of choice, and went to find her missing companion.

Garfield found cinnamon, no problem, but rice was a different story. Standing in front of fifty different types of rice and pasta, the simple word 'rice' didn't seem specific enough for him to make a decision. _God, which kind do I get?_ He wondered.

Lucky for him, Raven found him staring at the array of rice and picked one out for him. "Just take this one. It doesn't matter," she said, handing a bag to him. She rolled her eyes, but inside she was partly amused at his predicament.

The two checked out and left with their purchases. "Can we go there again?" Garfield asked fifteen seconds after they left the building.

Raven shrugged, groaning internally at the thought of him tagging along every time she went out for tea. "I guess so," she mumbled. Then, she added, "I'll just remember to not ask you to find rice for me again."

Garfield chuckled, surprised. Raven never made jokes. She must have been in a good mood.

Raven couldn't help but smile herself, but the smile left her in an instant. "Why do you want to come anyhow?" she asked.

Garfield shrugged. "It's fun."

"Going shopping?" Raven couldn't imagine shopping being considered fun.

"No," he replied. "Uh, I mean yeah, but it's nice to, uh, spend time with you." He rubbed his shoulder nervously, hoping she wouldn't take that in a bad way.

Raven let out a dark chuckle. "You need a social life, Logan." _God, he didn't just say that me_, a tiny voice inside her squeaked. _Gah, he did! _She blushed and looked away.

Garfield shrugged. "Kinda hard for me," he admitted. Raven looked back at him. On the one hand, he could be referring to the fact that he was extremely verbose and a bit awkward, socially. On the other hand, she thought, looking into his green eyes, he could be talking about how he looked. Dark green skin and hair did make meeting people a bit difficult. Raven was shocked by his words, assuming he was probably referring to both cases, and finding it odd that he did so. Garfield never talked about himself in a negative way, never showed signs of caring what other people thought of him.

She was going to say something back to him, when suddenly, a large boy walked right past her, catching her shoulder and shoving her sideways. "Watch it, jerk," she snapped automatically.

The young man turned around, his eyes steely and cold. "What was that, bitch? You wanna say that to my face?"

Raven, known for avoiding verbal fights, shied away. Because her emotional shields were down, the words came at her like knives, stabbing her. She was shocked at the pain it caused.

Beside her, Garfield saw that Raven wouldn't fight back, and was upset. It was enough to tick him off. "Don't call her that," he snapped right back, putting one arm around her. "She's my friend, and nobody says that to my friend."

The young man sneered. "Got a lot of nerve, there, green-skinned freak."

Garfield's hands balled up into lethal fists. He wanted so badly to tear that guy apart. _No!_ he thought, controlling himself. _You would hurt him. He's just a normal person._

He sighed and let it go. "Let's go, Rae. This guy's not worth it," he said. He still slipped the guy the finger before taking Raven's hand and leading her away.

They walked in silence for a minute. Raven was stuck in her mind, trying to figure out what had just happened. She was filled with so many different emotions; she didn't know how to handle it. Rage, anger, pain, confusion…_I have to get out of here,_ she thought desperately. She felt Garfield's arm around her back. He was close to her, helping her. She almost wanted to stay with him, to be comforted, but the idea frightened her. _No, he had to stand up for me. He'll think I'm a coward_. She closed her eyes. The next moment, she vanished and reappeared in her room, leaving a confused Garfield standing alone on the sidewalk, wondering where she'd gone.

oOo

"Rae?" There was a knock on her door. Another knock. "Rae? You alright?" Garfield's soft voice asked.

Raven was sprawled across her bed. She'd been meditating for the past hour, which had helped in some ways and not in others. She felt better, now that her emotions were under control, but she was conflicted inside.

She heard Garfield knock. He was the last person on earth she wanted to see. He'd stood up for her and had to protect her. She felt weak and miserable because of it. She closed her eyes. "Go away, Logan. I don't want to talk!" she called out.

Silence. A moment later, another knock. "Please Rae."

She gritted her teeth.

"Go away!" she yelled. "Can't you get it into your thick skull that I don't want to talk to you?"

On the other side of the door, Garfield sighed and hung his head. He let his hand drop and walked away. "Just trying to help," he whispered quietly to himself.

Back inside, Raven calmed down. Her mind was a mess. _How could you do that to him?_ One of her emotional selves demanded. _He was being nice to you._

_I didn't want or need his help back there_, Raven pointed out._ Now he's going to think I'm a…a…_

_A what? An actual person? With feelings? _The voice demanded._ What's wrong with that?_

_Everything, _Raven growled, but even she had to admit her anger was a bit uncalled for. She sighed. _I don't know_, she admitted finally. _I just hate feeling weak and needed to be protected._

_Who doesn't_? The voice pointed out_. But at least he cares enough to help you when he thinks you need it. Isn't that worth something?_

_I guess so…_

_Well, go apologize, before he regrets saying you're not a bitch. Jeeze._

Raven groaned_. I can't._

_Just do it!_

"Fine, fine," she grumbled, crawling off her bed.

Raven used her mind to find Garfield. He was in the living room, sitting near one of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows. She imagined being in the living room, and she appeared there a moment later. She inhaled and readied herself.

She took a few steps toward Garfield, and he looked up at her with his curious, but sad green eyes. She sat down beside him when he didn't say anything to stop her.

"You ok?" she asked, not knowing what to do. She felt extremely awkward.

He shrugged. "Sure." His voice was oddly deadpan, like hers.

She sighed, not wanting to get frustrated. "Look," she tried again. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to yell at you."

Garfield looked up and met her eyes. He looked away and back out the window. "Why'd you do it anyway?" he asked.

"What?"

"Get mad at me," he said flatly. "Like, did I do something wrong? Is being nice to you offensive? I mean, what did I do?"

Raven drew back at his words. Well, her little voice was right. He did think she was a bitch now. "Nothing. It…it was my fault. I'm not used to my emotions, and that whole thing just made them go crazy."

Garfield said nothing, but looked at her, prompting something further from her. "I guess I felt like you defending me was a weakness on my part."

"It's ok to admit you have weaknesses," Garfield threw in, his voice still rather flat.

"Yeah," she agreed meekly. "And the other thing is, I…" she trailed off, realizing what she was about to say. _Out with it!_ The voice sang. _You felt something for him._

Raven pressed her lips together before going on. "I…I…when you stood up to that guy, I felt safe and protected, and I think it just"—

Garfield raised a dark eyebrow, catching on. "Ah. It was a totally foreign and unimaginable feeling," he finished for her.

She blushed a little, tinting her usually grey cheeks a light pink. "Yeah. I don't feel like that very often. Pretty much never at all," she added, nodding. "Please don't be mad at me. I didn't mean to get upset with you. I didn't expect to feel anything, but I did and it scared me at first…"

Garfield could see she was conflicted again. It was hard for her—very hard—he realized, for her to admit this to him. And she was struggling. He did the first thing he could think of. He pulled her forward into a warm hug. Despite her hatred of being touched, she leaned against him, showing no signs of discomfort.

"S'ok, Raven," he said to her. "You just gotta let stuff like this in. It's good for yah."

She smiled, grateful he couldn't see it. "Thanks, Logan."

~In the doorway to the living room~

Starfire was standing in the doorway to the living room, her arms crossed, and a smug look on her face. Robin and Cyborg were watching too, their jaws slack and their eyes as wide as platters. "How?" Robin mouthed, not believing his eyes. Raven and Garfield hugging? It couldn't be!

Starfire smirked and whipped out a box of Earl Grey. The boys didn't get it, but she just tucked it away and smiled more to herself.

*Fin*

oOo

**A/N: I recently got back into watching Teen Titans and felt like they deserved this little one shot. It's too bad Raven and Garfield were never together in the TV show, but hey that's what fanfiction's for. Review!**

**-The Ember Raven**


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